


Can Chocolate Fix This Problem?

by God_Am_I_Sleepy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Help From Friends, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), Remus Lupin Likes Chocolate, Remus Lupin Needs a Hug, Slice of Life, prank gone wrong
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:09:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23861341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/God_Am_I_Sleepy/pseuds/God_Am_I_Sleepy
Summary: Remus Lupin gets into some trouble when he tries to pull off a prank of his own, leaving him with a monster of an essay. Luckily his friends are there to lend a hand, however helpful that may be. But the paper is due right around the same time as a full moon. Will the Marauders be able to pull this off AND keep Lupin's secret?
Relationships: Sirius Black & Remus Lupin & Peter Pettigrew & James Potter
Kudos: 2





	Can Chocolate Fix This Problem?

**Author's Note:**

> The first chapter is mainly setup, will get to the main action in the next.

Can Chocolate Fix This Problem? Ch. 1

The cloud of tension and anxiety forming over Remus Lupin’s head was an almost visible force, not to be ignored. Darkening a corner of the Gryffindor common room in an oaken chair and table, his many textbooks and scrolls blocked him from the view of curious students. The only signs of life that were detectable were grunts and muttering, the crinkling of dry scroll paper, the constant distracted tapping of quill on table, and the occasional flurry of activity when searching through the materials, which threatened to knock down the entire structure. It certainly wasn’t the relaxing way Remus liked to spend his Friday evenings, but it seemed the fates were doing all they could to keep him miserable. Well, the fates, and his own misguided sense of pride. If he had just stayed in his lane, he wouldn’t now be facing a truly difficult weekend. The thought of all he had to accomplish set him on edge, now adding a few colorful swear words to his mutterings.

Such was the dour scene that James Potter and Sirius Black came upon when returning from quidditch practice that night. They’re good looks, dirtied quidditch robes, and confident charm momentarily shifted the focus of their fellow Gryffindors away from the weirdness happening in the corner.

“Remus?” Sirius called, walking around a gaggle of third years and hearing what sounded like Lupin. “You in here?” 

After a moment a hand shot up from behind the pile of books and waved. “Over here.”   
The two boys made their way over to the strange configuration of paper and text, and managed to push a pile of books aside to get a look at their friend. It was a more frazzled and tired version of Remus then they were used to seeing, and as they had helped him through numerous werewolf transformations over the last couple years, that was saying something. Dark bags under each tawny eye, which were now red from the strain of reading too long by candle light, and brown hair which he normally tried to keep nicely combed was pushed around in every direction by frustrated hands. The scars that marred his handsome face seemed to contrast against his skin more than usual, something that normally happened only the morning after a full moon. Definitely not two days before. This left James and Sirius with an uneasy feeling in their guts, where before there had been nothing but mirth. 

“Heeeeey Moony.” James began slowly. “We were going to meet you by the kitchens after changing out of our uniforms. What happened?” 

“Sorry James, completely forgot about it, but it’s good you’re here. Can you look through those papers over there for my notes on goblin warfare tactics? It should be near the bottom but I haven’t found it so far, and now- now I’m wondering if I gave them to Frank last week. You know, I think I did. I’ll find him later and get them. What I really need is a review on Merlin’s early teachings! Did either of you manage to get notes on that class or should I- wait, Frank returned those notes on goblin warfare. Did I give them to Peter? He’s always needing notes from me since the two of you are so unreliable when it comes to that. Sirius, can you find him and ask if he has-“ The rant and haphazard shifting of materials was brought to an unexpected end, when one side of the scroll structure came loose and loudly cascaded to the ground. Witches and Wizards looked up from their conversations and studying as the scrolls and books slid in all directions of the Common Room. Remus looked at the chaotic mess spread around him and deflated, silently flopping into his chair in defeat. 

Sirius and James immediately set about collecting the papers, sharing a look that clearly said a certain someone had finally cracked his nut. 

“Alright then. It’s time to spill more than scrolls, and tell us what’s up.” Huffed James, placing his pile of collected papers on a nearby table and dragging Remus from the uncomfortable wooden chair towards a group of comfy armchairs by the fireplace. “Cause there’s no exams in History of Magic this month, and this is FAR too much effort for basic studying.”

“Has Professor Binns finally decided you’re smart enough to teach the class yourself, and this is you making a lesson plan?” Sirius asked, dumping his papers and leaning against the cushy chair Remus was just settling into. “It better not be. Having you for a teacher scares me far more than a ghost ever could.” 

Laying his head against the back of the chair and rubbing his eyes, Remus let out a long breath and tried to relax. “No, no, I wish. I’m just paying for a bad decision. Remember the last prank we were working on for Mr. Filch? You two kept going on and on about how you were the only ones who ever took the initiative, and did all the work on them? Well, I thought it would be a brilliant idea to do a prank of my own and show you two up.” 

“No way! Aww, Moony, you do care.” Said Sirius, ruffling Remus’ already messy hair. He didn’t have the will to fight it, just sat and let it happen. 

James pulled one of the armchairs closer and settled in for what he was sure was a good story.   
“Ok, while I’m really super proud of you right now, I’m also confused. What does shenanigans have to do with homework?”

“My bright idea was to do shenanigans on someone you had deemed impossible to mess with, that being Professor Binns. Alright Sirius, stop it.” Said Remus, finally swatting the smirking boy’s hand away. 

Lupin knew that his friends respected his, shall we say stronger morals, but there were times were he wanted to do away with all that and have their envy and approval as well. So he decided to irritate the unirritable. There was no better mark than the ghostly Professor Binns, teacher of History of Magic who wouldn’t even let death stop him from teaching. The ghost would float in, give his lesson for the day, float out, and soundly ignore any distractions that James or Sirius could think up. That was, until earlier that day when Remus put his scheme into motion.  
“I did a lot of combing through the library for anything useful,” he explained, “and found a potion that when sprayed could temporarily change the effects of light passing through the temporal visage of a spirit.” 

“Huh?” James grunted.

“English please.” Sirius added.

“I turned Professor Binns into a disco ball today.”

The loud roar of James and Sirius’ sudden laughter rocked through the common room, startling the group of students still there. One poor girl was so shocked she accidentally knocked her wizards chess set too close to the fire, causing the pieces to shout and yell in distress. 

“HA-hA! Oh, oh man, that’s awesome!” Wheezed Sirius, wiping tears from his eyes. “Did he- did he even notice?” 

“Not for a good 20 minutes. It took Samantha from Hufflepuff reflecting the rays back at him with her hand mirror to finally notice what was happening. Somehow the pointing, laughing, and quiet singing of disco songs wasn’t clue enough.”

This sent fresh peels of laughter from the pair, James simultaneously hanging on to his stomach and his armchair for dear life. Sirius was flopped against the back of Remus’s chair still, banging his fist against the top. Remus, on the other hand, was still too consumed with troubles to feel any pride. Sure, there had been some in the moment, but it had too quickly turned to heavy lead in his stomach.

OH! Oh man- how could you?! And on the ONE day Sirius and I SKIPPED?!” Panted James, smiling like a fiend and sliding his glasses back onto his nose. 

“That obviously wasn’t part of the plan!” Remus huffed, crossing his arms and glaring at his friends. “Where were you anyway?” 

“Oh, well.” Sirius began, tossing back his black hair and leaning in close. “Our dear Prongs overheard at lunchtime that a certain Miss Evans was desperately looking for some music from some muggle called Elton John. So of course he drags me along with him to Hogsmeade in search of any records of his to buy, to give to Lily and therefore win her heart forever. But like I told him the entire time, we weren’t going to find anything there!” 

James grumbled and slouched in his chair. “it’s not my fault the village refuses to carry muggle entertainment items. They really should, some of it is really-“

“Oh boo-hoo.” Remus interrupted, tired of the story and feeling less sympathetic than usual. “If either of you bothered to clue me in on your ditching, I could have rethought the whole thing!” 

“Hey, watch who you accuse of leaving others out of plans.” Said Sirius.

“Oh whatever.” Remus muttered. “By the time I found out you two were no shows, my horrible plan was all completed and impossible to undo. The incantation said, the potion sprayed, and a mad dash to my seat before he floated in. And since everyone saw me run in like that, and there was NO ONE ELSE to reasonably blame present, I was quickly sussed out as the guilty party.” 

“But you were the guilty party.” Remarked Sirius.

“I know! But I didn’t want it to be so blatantly obvious!” Remus angrily fired back.

“Hey!” Exclaimed James, suddenly sitting up in his armchair. “You can finally tell us how Binns acts when he’s really mad! We’ve been trying to provoke him for years, got nothing. But you managed to do the impossible! With this, admittedly genius, prank of yours he would have HAD to blown his see-through lid!”

“Oh, he blew his lid alright.” Remus grumbled, sinking further into his armchair and despair. “Smoke started billowing out of him like a chimney fire, but the room somehow got cold enough to see your breath. And when he started yelling, his voice got echoey and frankly disturbing. He seemed to think that I have no respect for others peace, much less someone’s eternal peace, and that I lacked any common decency! According to him, my prank was equal to defacing a grave! Can you believe that?! You two have done much worse, but your stupid acts were never compared to desecration! With all his shouting and ranting, putting the fear of the afterlife in me, and the awkward, horrible, uncomfortable silence it caused for the rest of the class, it was an absolute nightmare.” 

With a careless shrug and smirk in his friends direction, Sirius snagged a third chair and pulled it towards the others for a comfy seat. “Sorry Moony, but you should know by now that that’s how it works! The greatest pranks are closely followed by the worst punishments. Poetic justice, or something stupid like that.” 

“Remember the week we spent mucking out the thestral stalls?” Asked James. “All for setting off enchanted fire crackers near their pen during magical creatures class and causing a stampede.”

“Or the time we had to dust ALL the portraits in the castle?” added Sirius. “That was for the spell we cast on Filch that made him constantly burp glitter! Every time it happened while he was cleaning, he had an even bigger mess to mop up! It was two glorious weeks before he got back to normal. Well, relatively normal.”

James smiled at the memory. “Ah, that was a good one. Was it third year?” 

“No.” Sirius said. “Pretty sure it was second year, Remember? Cuz Peter was dealing with that-“ 

“POINT BEING,” Remus interrupted, rubbing his tired eyes, “I now have this impossible punishment put entirely on me, not ‘the Marauders’. It’s not some mundane task split between the four of us for a week, it’s just me trying to push a boulder up a mountain!”

“... literally? Cuz you have yet to tell us what Professor Binns is making you do.”

“NO, Sirius. Not literally.” 

Exasperated, James through his hands up and exclaimed, “Well are you going to tell us what it is or not? What is the meaning of all this paper madness??” 

Remus looked ahead without really seeing, his face set in a look of utter hopelessness. “I have to write an essay. Covering every lesson from our History of Magic classes, since first year.” 

His friends shared a wince, knowing full well how dull the task must be. There wasn’t a witch or wizard in the entire castle that didn’t have a hard time staying awake once the ghost professor started droning on. 

“That’s rotten luck, but not undoable.” Said James, with a sympathetic pat to Remus’ knee. “We’ll get you some chocolate to take the edge off, the best Moony de-stressor there is, let you take a quick nap, then show this essay who’s boss! Since Padfoot and I are so proud of you right now, we’ll help you get it done! Wormtail too, I’m sure he’s not doing anything important. Shouldn’t take us longer to complete than tomorrow night. How long does it have to be? Three scrolls, four? God, I hope not five.” 

Remus’ voice was hollow as he said, “Fifteen.”

A moment of silence, Sirius and James not quite believing what they had heard. Assignments were typically two full length scrolls, essays were three, and terrible teachers who hated students’ weekends would assign four or five scrolls of work. But fifteen???

“You can’t be serious.” Said Sirius. 

“Nope.” Remus replied. “Only YOU can be Sirius.” 

“Now is not the time for you to tell bad jokes!” Sirius insisted, leaning forward in his chair to get in his beleaguered friend’s face. “And that’s MY bad joke!”

James pushed the haughty boy back by his shoulder and began to pace in front of the common room fireplace. 

“Come on Padfoot, not helping.” He huffed. “Now Moony, you are 100% positive that this crazy assignment had to be FIFTEEN full length scrolls long? Exactly?? Because no professor has ever set the bar that high before! Not even for our O.W.L.S.!”

Feeling too mentally and physically tired to match his friend’s energy, Remus just nodded his head in the affirmative. The last few hours had been spent trying to organize and stretch all he knew across that much paper, too much paper, and only managed to complete four scrolls. He hadn’t even told them the worst part. Remus looked up to James and Sirius and said, “It’s due Monday.”

“MONDAY?!?!” They echoed back in disbelief. It was Friday night now, leaving only two full days to complete the essay. But beyond that already scary task, the timing couldn’t be worse. The full moon would shine in the sky that Sunday night, causing Remus to change from a tired young man to a vicious and cranky full-grown werewolf. This process always took a lot out of him, and made him physically drained before and after. Because of Dumbledore, the faculty already knew about Lupin’s condition and tended to cut him some slack at the appropriate times. To ask him to do this was a level of insanity only a truly bitter ghost would be capable of. 

Whatever relief had come into the common room with these two boys was slowly disappearing, being replaced with a rising sense of panic. Sirius jumped up from the comfy chair he was in and rushed to Remus’ work desk, looking manicly through all his papers and books. “oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god-“ he chanted, wishing that throwing all the papers out the tower window and running away into the Forbidden Forest was a viable option. As he read and sorted, Sirius flicked his wand in the direction of the boy’s dormitory staircase, muttering a spell to send his and James’ notes their way. Deciding that he had had enough of pacing by the fireplace, James caught the papers as they flew by and joined Padfoot at the table, writing down anything historic they could think of. After a while, he too started to chant, “oh god oh god oh god-.” Remus was only too happy to give someone else a chance to solve his problems, while he took a quick nap right there in his armchair. He figured that he was owed it, seeing as those two were partly to blame.

Just as his brain was feeling slumber’s deep pull, Remus was jolted awake by the slamming open of the portrait door. He and his friends looked up to see Peter Pettigrew, their other Marauder friend known as Wormtail, tripping his way into the common room and knocking into the other few students still up. Peter’s fight to regain balance seemed to fit with his general demeanor of anxiousness, always finding it hard to fit in with the cool band of pranksters. He shook his mousey hair out of his eyes and scanned the room, clearly hoping that they were here and didn’t see his sad entrance. Luckily, depending on how he looked at it, the scene was ignored. It was never the plan but try as they might, sometimes James, Sirius and Lupin just plain old forgot about him. As had been the case today.

“Oh, hey-hey guys! Excuse me-coming through here. I’m with them.” he muttered to some unfortunate fourth years in his path. “You guys said we were going to meet at the kitchens after your quidditch practice, so I’ve been waiting there for a while. But I guess you guys forgot about me again, which is fine, I totally understand. No hard feelings or anything, I’m not one to hold a grudge. So what’s going-?” 

“Wormtail!” Sirius shouted, looking up from the academic mess long enough to make sure it was indeed him. “About time you showed up! Quick, you need to run back down to the kitchens and get as much chocolate from those house elves as you can carry. This weekend is gonna be a boring nightmare, and we need to get ourselves and especially Remus through it.”

“Also!” Added James, looking between a textbook and Peter as he spoke. “Run to the Infirmary and see if you can steal any of those 5-hour energy potions from Madam Pomfrey. Enough to get us all through the weekend, so like fifty. She keeps them under lock and key, so you’ll need to sneak into her office.”

Peter’s watery eyes grew wide and flicked between the pair, wondering if they had finally grown bored enough to start pranking him. With Snape and other Slytherins around, he had assumed he’d be safe from such hazing.“B-but, I j-j-just got back from the kitch-“ 

“There’s no time for arguing, Peter!” James commanded. “This is do-or-die time.”

“Well, c-can I at least borrow the invisibility cloak to get into Madam Pom-“

“NO TIME, MAN!” Shouted Sirius, slamming the table with his palm to get the point across. “GO GO GO!”

With a squeak of fear, Peter was back out the portrait hole and running down the corridor at full speed. With any luck, he would transform into his mouse form before getting caught and forcing the others to bail him out.

Remus knew it was selfish and a little cruel of them to treat Peter that way, but time was of the essence and he didn’t have the strength to properly reprimand Sirius and James at the moment. All he could bring himself to do look in their direction and say, “Rude.” 

“Yeah, I know.” mumbled Sirius, feeling guilty enough to look down and scratch the back of his head,“Got carried away. We’ll apologize and thank him or whatever when he comes back. Now are you gonna rest, or what?” With a nod, Remus turned back around while Sirius and James to read his work so far and jot down notes on how to stretch it out.

As he leaned back into the chair and listened to the crackling fire, James said to him with a reassuring smile, “Don’t worry Moony. We’ll get a head start on this and let you sleep. No way are you going through this alone.” 

With a smile and a nod from his drowsy head, Remus muttered before falling asleep, “Thanks. Wake me up when the chocolate gets here.” 

‘Who knows?’ He thought as consciousness slipped away, ‘Maybe chocolate can fix this problem.’


End file.
